About

$114,500

pledged of $10,000 goal

500

backers

What is a prototype?

A prototype is a preliminary model of something. Projects that offer physical products need to show backers documentation of a working prototype. This gallery features photos, videos, and other visual documentation that will give backers a sense of what’s been accomplished so far and what’s left to do. Though the development process can vary for each project, these are the stages we typically see:

Proof of Concept

Explorations that test ideas and functionality.

Functional Prototype

Demonstrates the functionality of the final product, but looks different.

Appearance Prototype

Looks like the final product, but is not functional.

Design Prototype

Appearance and function match the final product, but is made with different manufacturing methods.

Production Prototype

Appearance, function, and manufacturing methods match the final product.

Prototype Gallery

These photos and videos provide a detailed look at this project’s development.

Is this the perfect sound bar? For many people...absolutely. The new SB380 sound bar by ZVOX combines superb home theater sound, an elegantly simple design, the world's best dialogue intelligibility and a very affordable price.

Superb sound. Three high performance full range speakers. A powerful digital amplifier. A powered subwoofer that delivers strong, accurate bass. The ZVOX PhaseCue virtual surround system. All carefully fine tuned by Jarl Salmela and the ZVOX Design Team. The results will amaze you. Maybe even shock you. This is a great music system. A great home theater system. Really. Truly. Great.

Elegantly simple design. The SB380's components are encased in a slim aluminum cabinet that is just a little over 3" deep. Compared to the typical plastic-cabinet sound bar it is a thing of timeless beauty, reminiscent of minimalist German designs.

The cabinet can be mounted upright on a wall, placed upright on furniture, or placed "flat on its back" on furniture (which results in a super-slim profile - see photo above). And best of all, the built-in powered subwoofer uses advanced algorithms to digitally control the bass -- so you get startling low-end performance with no external subwoofer. That, is elegance.

Voices...clear and upfront with AccuVoice dialogue boost. The ZVOX AccuVoice® system reproduces voices with perfect clarity, even at low volumes. Our proprietary technology really works -- read the reviews of our AccuVoice TV Speaker on the world's largest ecommerce site. Other sound bars claim to offer improved dialogue clarity. The SB380 delivers.

A great price. The SB380 will retail for $299.99, a truly great price given its performance and features. We saved costs by using a smaller, more efficient amplifier design, and by not including Bluetooth® streaming. (Most modern TVs have Pandora® or Spotify® built in, so Bluetooth is no longer necessary for music streaming.) And by pursuing a direct-to-consumer marketing approach, we're able to offer this truly great price.

The SB380 Kickstarter campaign. Unlike many Kickstarter campaigns, this one is brought to you by an established company with a long track record of delivering innovative products. We're introducing the SB380 through Kickstarter because a) it's a great way to get the word out on a cool new product and b) we plan to use the proceeds from the campaign to fund a significant advertising campaign to promote this direct-from-factory-to-consumer product. The SB380 is already in production and should start shipping in July 2017.

What critics and customers say about ZVOX products.

" ZVOX’s SB500 proved itself an extremely able music reproducer but an even better movie machine capable of surprisingly powerful, deep bass and dynamic headroom that I’ve simply never heard before in any one-piece soundbar. It’s a remarkable standalone solution and, given the performance of the integrated subwoofer system and the superb build quality, an excellent value.”
Sound & Vision magazine

“The Zvox SB500 sound bar offers great sound quality and a simple setup process. Bass is plentiful despite the lack of a subwoofer. Styling is chic and the unit seems well put together. The SB500 is among the best for the money, period. This could be the soundbar to beat this year.” CNET

“The Accuvoice assumes you actually want to hear what the characters are saying instead of just feeling the bass of explosions in-between dialogue. Recommended by Forbes.” Forbes

“The ZVOX AccuVoice AV200 is a basic soundbar that incorporates sound processing tech like hearing aids. In my tests, the speaker made voices louder and clearer.” Wall St. Journal

About ZVOX. In 2004 we introduced what CNET calls the first commercially successful sound bar home theater system. In 2012 we introduced our AccuVoice feature which uses hearing aid technology to make TV dialogue crystal clear, even at low volumes.
When we introduced our AccuVoice TV Speaker on Kickstarter last year, we reached almost 500% of our goal – and that system has gone on to be a nationwide success, reaching the number two slot on the best seller list at the country’s largest online retailer.
And now we’re about to introduce a sound system that combines three-dimensional home theater sound with our AccuVoice dialogue-boosting feature. Read our consumer reviews on that big retail web site. Then read coverage of ZVOX systems in the Wall Street Journal, Sound & Vision magazine, CNET and many others. Then ask yourself this question, “Should my TV sound as good as it looks?”

CEO Tom Hannaher was Director of Marketing at the company that became Best Buy in the early 1970s. He went on to work with industry legend Henry Kloss at Advent Corporation and Cambridge SoundWorks, where he was Senior Vice President in charge of product development.

VP of Product Development Jarl Salmela started his career at ADS and the moved on to MB Quart. From there he went to Cambridge SoundWorks where he worked with Henry Kloss in developing a revolutionary line of computer audio systems.

COO George Samuels was National Sales Manager at EPI Loudspeakers and worked at Ohm Acoustics in the 1970s, and then founded Genesis Speakers in 1975. He also worked at Cambridge SoundWorks.

President Sandy Bloomberg was the founder of the Tweeter Home Entertainment Group and founder of the Pro Group buying group. He is a member of the Consumer Electronics Hall of Fame.

Risks and challenges

We expect to fulfill all Kickstarter orders in the summer of 2017. However, it's possible that our production schedule may shift based on the number of orders we receive.
ZVOX manufactures tens of thousands of audio systems every year. Our design and production staff are experts with many years of experience in our industry. While we cannot confirm final production dates until our campaign ends, we have infrastructure and experience to produce and deliver the SB380 sound bar built to the highest standards, and in a timely manner.